England international Owen Farrell joined Saracens community heroes Matthew Stevens and Scarlett Cooper-Wall to launch this year's Gallagher Premiership season at Twickenham Stadium last week.

During the 2018/19 season, title sponsors Gallagher will focus on championing the people within the game that embody the values and spirit of rugby, both on and off the pitch - people whose energy, determination and commitment demonstrate their passion to protect and grow the game.

To launch the season, Gallagher invited 24 members of the rugby community to Twickenham, including the members from Saracens, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their club’s star player on the hallowed turf at rugby HQ.

Twelve of Premiership Rugby’s star players, spanning all of the top-flight clubs, were each joined by two members of their own local rugby community to mark the start of Gallagher’s role as official title partner of Premiership Rugby forming part of a campaign entitled: Heroes of the Game.

With ages spanning from 14 years old to the late 60s, and each with their own individual relationship to rugby, these ambassadors for the game were picked by their clubs in recognition of all that rugby stands for.

Stevens, 45, is the principal of the new Saracens High School that will welcome its first cohort of Year Seven pupils in September.

Cooper-Wall, 24, is an employee of Saracens Sport Foundation and also plays for Saracens Women.

Simon Matson, incoming chief executive of Gallagher’s UK Broking and Underwriting operations, said: “As a community insurance broker and benefits adviser, our passion is about protecting and helping businesses so they can grow, communities so they can thrive and individuals so they can achieve.

“Just as rugby helps to inspire, empower and deliver excellence through trust, teamwork and the effective evaluation of risk.”